Facts: Last week, the White House instituted a new initiative entitled “We The People.” The initiative aims to increase the participation in government through forming an online petition system to contact the White House on important issues.

Opinion: This program is not a revolutionary step in the way we are governed. However, it is a good step forward that will increase involvement in government.

With this program, anyone can form a petition online. If  the petition has 5,000 signatures within 30 days of its creation, the White House guarantees to read and respond to it.

This is a welcomed new platform for political discussion for those who do not believe a single letter to the White House will promote change. Any issue can be the driving force behind a petition; it is not limited to the staples of political discourse.

Action from the administration will likely be reserved for the issues that garner the most attention. The 5,000 signatures that are a minimum for White House attention are likely not enough for any real action to be taken, but this should not be discouraging. As networked as college students are, gathering thousands of online signatures should not be a problem if there is merit behind an issue.

The system’s online capabilities make it perfect for establishing grassroots movements, as the Internet is one of the few places where a pyramid systems works.  While few people have 5,000 or 100,000 friends, most unknowingly have access to that many people. Sending a petition to a hundred Facebook friends may eventually yield numbers one cannot imagine. Through the forwarding of the petition to others, the hundred it was originally sent to could balloon into thousands.

In Thursday’s issue of the Technician, the initiative was criticized for having political motivations behind it. Political motivations are not something that should be shunned. In fact, they should be embraced. Political aims, in their purest form, are only fulfilled when the needs of the people are met. The initiative is politically driven as it asks every citizen: “What changes are needed in the government?”

The initiative will not benefit anyone without also benefiting the people. Setting up the system is great, but it will not gain a sizable amount of votes by itself.  Votes will only be gained if action is taken on the petitions that are presented to the White House. It is true that if the White House takes action on the petitions presented, it’s likely Barack Obama will gain votes in the 2012 election from those whom the issue affects. However, it is also true that votes will not be gained, and may even be lost, if no action is taken. This system cannot take advantage of the people for political gain; it is only designed to provide mutualistic benefits.

It seems that our student government and our federal government are both making a concentrated effort as of late to lend an ear to the issues of those they govern. The programs introduced by both are a good start, but they are meaningless if issues are not brought up in great enough numbers to require action from those who govern.